U.S. patent application number 15/466561 was filed with the patent office on 2017-11-16 for system and method for producing methane from a methane hydrate formation.
This patent application is currently assigned to Baker Hughes Incorporated. The applicant listed for this patent is Ian Ayling, Terry Bussear, Xiaowei Wang. Invention is credited to Ian Ayling, Terry Bussear, Xiaowei Wang.
Application Number | 20170328189 15/466561 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 60266725 |
Filed Date | 2017-11-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170328189 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang; Xiaowei ; et
al. |
November 16, 2017 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING METHANE FROM A METHANE HYDRATE
FORMATION
Abstract
A system for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate formation
including a completion that is disposed through a Methane Hydrate
formation. An inlet of the completion disposed in the Methane
Hydrate formation; and a drain for water located in a direction
proximate a direction of gravity relative to the Methane Hydrate
formation and gravitationally beneath the Methane Hydrate
formation. A method for producing methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation
Inventors: |
Wang; Xiaowei; (Houston,
TX) ; Ayling; Ian; (Katy, TX) ; Bussear;
Terry; (Spring, TX) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Wang; Xiaowei
Ayling; Ian
Bussear; Terry |
Houston
Katy
Spring |
TX
TX
TX |
US
US
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Baker Hughes Incorporated
Houston
TX
|
Family ID: |
60266725 |
Appl. No.: |
15/466561 |
Filed: |
March 22, 2017 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
62334752 |
May 11, 2016 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E21B 41/0099 20200501;
E21B 43/128 20130101; E21B 43/08 20130101; E21B 43/38 20130101 |
International
Class: |
E21B 43/38 20060101
E21B043/38; E21B 43/12 20060101 E21B043/12; E21B 43/08 20060101
E21B043/08 |
Claims
1. A system for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate formation
comprising: a completion that is disposed through a Methane Hydrate
formation; an inlet of the completion disposed in the Methane
Hydrate formation; and a drain for water located in a direction
proximate a direction of gravity relative to the Methane Hydrate
formation and gravitationally beneath the Methane Hydrate
formation.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a pump
disposed in the drain and configured to pump water.
3. The system as claimed in claim 2 wherein the pump is connected
to a flow conduit that reverses direction of the water and conveys
the water to a separate pathway in the same borehole.
4. The system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the separate pathway is
an annulus defined by a production string of the completion.
5. The system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the separate pathway is
within the annulus and in a separate string.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pump is an inverted
Electric Submersible Pump.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the inlet is a sand
screen assembly.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the drain is connected
to a water disposal zone.
9. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the water disposal zone
is a formation.
10. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the water disposal
zone is a lateral borehole.
11. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the water disposal
zone is a container.
12. The system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the water disposal
zone is a sea.
13. A method for producing methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation, comprising: causing Methane Hydrate in a Methane Hydrate
formation to change phase; collecting liquid water in a direction
proximate a direction of gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole; and collecting free gas in a direction proximate a
direction opposite gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole.
14. A method for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate formation
comprising: passing water into a borehole in a direction that is
proximate the direction water will flow under the influence of
gravity; passing Methane into the borehole in a direction that is
proximate a direction against the direction of gravity; and
managing the water collected to a selected location.
15. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising producing
the Methane to a containment vessel.
16. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the passing water is
drawing water using a pump configured to pump water in a direction
other than a direction in which the Methane is passed.
17. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the passing Methane
is passive.
18. The method as claimed in claim 14 wherein the passing Methane
is active.
19. A production system for producing Methane from a Methane
Hydrate formation, the system configured to dissociate the Methane
Hydrate and maintain separation of Methane gas and nongaseous
material as it enters the system and resides in the system.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of an earlier filing
date from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/334,752 filed
May 11, 2016, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein
by reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Methane Hydrate exists in vast quantities throughout much of
planet Earth. Methane can be liberated from Methane Hydrate if the
temperature and or pressure is adjusted to permit dissociation. In
recent years, operators have been trying to find ways to
economically produce methane as an energy resource. Unfortunately
problems have been encountered in connection with configurations
and methods designed to recover this resource. One problem that is
quite consistent is the reformation of hydrate within the
production system causing plugs to form. This of course restricts
or prevents production reducing viability of the well. The art has
attempted to combat the problem by the addition of chemical species
such as Ethylene Glycol, Methanol or other hydrate inhibitors.
While these work, they are costly and they are considered
environmental hazards thereby requiring additional processing,
which only adds more cost to the operation.
[0003] Other efforts have included separating liquid water from the
gas phase methane. FIG. 1 illustrates a system that employed this
concept. Unfortunately this method continued to suffer from hydrate
reformation leaving the industry at a loss for achieving acceptable
production levels. Chemicals have a host of issues surrounding
their use and separation didn't work. Referring to FIG. 1, the
system for separating water from methane gas comprises a borehole
10 extending into a methane hydrate accumulation formation 12. A
sand screen assembly 14 is disposed at the methane hydrate interval
to allow fluids from the formation to enter the borehole and
completion string 16. Uphole of the sand screen assembly 14 is an
ESP assembly 16 comprising an ESP shroud 20, surrounding an ESP
intake 22, an ESP gas separator 24, and an ESP pump 26. A crossover
28 is used to swap the separated water and gaseous methane for
movement in the tubing-casing annulus 30 and tubing 32,
respectively, to surface. The system was intended to work by
drawing water and sublimated methane from the formation 12 through
screen 14, moving the fluid uphole to the OD of the shroud 20 and
allowing liquid water to spill over the uphole edge 34 of the
shroud while the gas collected in chamber 36 is flowed into the
crossover 28 and produced to surface. As noted however, the system
did not work and suffered reformation of hydrates such that
chemicals are needed to make the well produce efficiently over
time, with all of the inherent drawbacks of chemical use. The art
then has been left searching for some other type of solution to the
problem of efficient production Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation.
[0004] The art would be highly receptive to a system and method for
efficient production of Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
[0005] A system for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation including a completion that is disposed through a Methane
Hydrate formation; an inlet of the completion disposed in the
Methane Hydrate formation; and a drain for water located in a
direction proximate a direction of gravity relative to the Methane
Hydrate formation and gravitationally beneath the Methane Hydrate
formation.
[0006] A method for producing methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation, including causing Methane Hydrate in a Methane Hydrate
formation to change phase; collecting liquid water in a direction
proximate a direction of gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole; and collecting free gas in a direction proximate a
direction opposite gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole.
[0007] A method for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation including passing water into a borehole in a direction
that is proximate the direction water will flow under the influence
of gravity; passing Methane into the borehole in a direction that
is proximate a direction against the direction of gravity; and
managing the water collected to a selected location.
[0008] A production system for producing Methane from a Methane
Hydrate formation, the system configured to dissociate the Methane
Hydrate and maintain separation of Methane gas and nongaseous
material as it enters the system and resides in the system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] The following descriptions should not be considered limiting
in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like
elements are numbered alike:
[0010] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a prior art system designed for
Methane production from a Methane Hydrate formation;
[0011] FIG. 2 is an illustration of a system and method for Methane
production from a Methane Hydrate formation as disclosed herein;
and
[0012] FIG. 3 is an illustration similar to FIG. 2 but with a
separate string for liquid disposed within the annulus of the
production string.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the
disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of
exemplification and not limitation with reference to the
Figures.
[0014] Referring to FIG. 2, a novel configuration of wellbore
components will successfully meet the needs of the industry.
Illustrated is a production operation 50 for a subsea Methane
Hydrate formation. It is to be understood, however, that the system
disclosed herein is not limited to subsea operations but may be
employed to produce Methane from Methane Hydrate formations
anywhere such a formation exists. A production system is defined as
extending from a target formation to a processing system that
processes produced raw fluids that may be local or remote from a
wellhead. Accordingly, while the illustrated operation 50 includes
a platform 52 at sea level 54 and a riser 56 extending to a
wellhead 58 at the seabed 60, these are not always a part of the
system since the system is equally applicable to land borne
operations. More important is the description of the system beneath
the seabed 60. A borehole 62 extends to and through a Methane
Hydrate formation 64. The borehole comprises a completion that
includes a production string 66 and an inlet that may be a sand
screen assembly 68. The production string 66 includes an "inverted"
ESP (Electric Submersible Pump) 69, meaning the ESP is configured
to pump in a downhole direction as opposed to an uphole direction,
positioned gravitationally beneath the formation 64.
[0015] It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art
from the drawing that as the Methane Hydrate formation 64 begins to
dissociate from a solid to a nongaseous material that is
predominantly liquid (water 70) and from a solid to a gas via
sublimation (Methane 72) the gas will naturally migrate to a
position away from the pull of gravity relative to the water which
will naturally migrate toward the pull of gravity. Because
conditions are specifically tailored to cause dissociation at this
location, dissociation necessarily will occur and will result in a
full separation of water and Methane. It will also be appreciated
from FIG. 2 that the free water from the formation is collected
only into the lower portion of the borehole 62 somewhat similar to
a household sink drain. The water will move down into the drain 67
and feed the ESP 69, which as noted above is "inverted". As
illustrated, the water 70 is being pumped by ESP 69 to a water
disposal zone 74. The disposal zone 74 may be gravitationally
beneath the Methane Hydrate formation as illustrated but also may
be in a lateral borehole, or even pumped back to surface through
another string that may be an entirely separate string in another
borehole, a separate string 78 within the same borehole (FIG. 3) or
by using the annulus 80 around the production string 66 (FIG. 3
still serves by ignoring separate string 78). It will be
appreciated that FIG. 3 employs a flow conduit 82 that extends from
an ESP outlet 84, in a sealed manner, through packer 86 uphole of a
free gas inlet 88 to the production string 66. This will provide
access for water to the string 78 or the annulus 80 above packer 86
without contacting the gas flow in the production string 66. It
should be noted that in this embodiment the ESP does not discharge
in a downhole direction but still is located gravitationally
beneath the formation 64 such that the water drain still functions
as in each embodiment hereof.
[0016] The water 70 freed in the dissociation process is pure water
and so can be deposited underground, released into the sea, used to
irrigate nearby crops, collected in a receptacle of some sort (hold
of a ship, large container, etc.) and contained for use later, etc.
The dissociated gas is also pure and hence the gas migrating into
the borehole above the level of the water migrating into the
borehole has no water associated therewith and cannot then reform
hydrates in the production string. This is a significantly
different result than the prior art and is surprising to those of
ordinary skill in the art since the art already has learned that
separating the water and the gas is ineffective from the system
described in the background section of this application. What
heretofore the art failed to understand is that it was not the idea
of separating water from gas that was the failure but that the
configuration designed to have that effect failed to achieve the
goal, unbeknownst to the art. What actually occurs is that the
action of the water and gas moving through the screen and up the
borehole to the ESP shroud edge 34 at high velocity causes a
significant amount of entrainment of water in the gas flow and gas
in the water flow. Accordingly, the system of FIG. 1 never did get
the water and the gas separated and hence suffered from reformation
of hydrate when pressure and temperature conditions within the
system became conducive to hydrate re-formation. Due to the length
of a production system and the external changing conditions around
a borehole and a riser (for a seabed located formation) it is
extremely difficult if not impossible to ensure conditions are
never conducive to hydrate formation. Experience has shown us that
it is not possible to reliably and economically control those
conditions since the previous attempts (other than very expensive
heating apparatus and chemical additive methodologies) have been
unsuccessful. Practicing in accordance with the present teaching
however, substantially eliminates or reduces the potential for
hydrate formation to such an extent as to be negligible because the
base materials necessary to hydrate formation (water and Methane)
are not commingled at all in the completion system. More
specifically, a production system for producing Methane from a
Methane Hydrate formation, in accordance with the teachings hereof
is configured to dissociation the Methane Hydrate and maintain
separation of Methane gas and nongaseous material as it enters the
system and resides in the system. It is in this way that hydrate
reformation is avoided.
[0017] The method for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation includes passing water into a borehole in a direction
that is proximate the direction water will flow under the influence
of gravity; passing Methane into the borehole in a direction that
is proximate a direction against the direction of gravity; managing
the water collected to a selected location and producing the
Methane to a containment vessel that may be on a seabed, on ground,
on a floating vessel such as shown at 52, etc. The passing of
Methane may be passive or active. Draining the water into the
borehole in a direction water will flow under gravity is
illustrated in FIG. 2 where the water moves to a portion of the
borehole gravitationally beneath the formation 64. It is then
assisted by the ESP although it is possible that a particular
formation could provide a destination for the water that it can
achieve without the assistance of the pump and hence it is
contemplated that the system and method might not require the ESP.
The gas on the other hand does of course migrate in a direction
different than the water does with respect to gravity because the
density of the gas is so much less than the density of the water.
The gas is allowed to move into the completion and is ported to
surface or other containment vessel for further processing or
use.
[0018] Set forth below are some embodiments of the foregoing
disclosure:
Embodiment 1
[0019] A system for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation including a completion that is disposed through a Methane
Hydrate formation; an inlet of the completion disposed in the
Methane Hydrate formation; and a drain for water located in a
direction proximate a direction of gravity relative to the Methane
Hydrate formation and gravitationally beneath the Methane Hydrate
formation.
Embodiment 2
[0020] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, further
comprising a pump disposed in the drain and configured to pump
water.
Embodiment 3
[0021] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
pump is connected to a flow conduit that reverses direction of the
water and conveys the water to a separate pathway in the same
borehole.
Embodiment 4
[0022] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
separate pathway is an annulus defined by a production string of
the completion.
Embodiment 5
[0023] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
separate pathway is within the annulus and in a separate
string.
Embodiment 6
[0024] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
pump is an inverted Electric Submersible Pump.
Embodiment 7
[0025] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
inlet is a sand screen assembly.
Embodiment 8
[0026] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
drain is connected to a water disposal zone.
Embodiment 9
[0027] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
water disposal zone is a formation.
Embodiment 10
[0028] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
water disposal zone is a lateral borehole.
Embodiment 11
[0029] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
water disposal zone is a container.
Embodiment 12
[0030] The system in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
water disposal zone is a sea.
Embodiment 13
[0031] A method for producing methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation, including causing Methane Hydrate in a Methane Hydrate
formation to change phase; collecting liquid water in a direction
proximate a direction of gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole; and collecting free gas in a direction proximate a
direction opposite gravity as it enters a completion of a
borehole.
Embodiment 14
[0032] A method for producing Methane from a Methane Hydrate
formation including passing water into a borehole in a direction
that is proximate the direction water will flow under the influence
of gravity; passing Methane into the borehole in a direction that
is proximate a direction against the direction of gravity; and
managing the water collected to a selected location.
Embodiment 15
[0033] The method in any of the preceding embodiments, further
comprising producing the Methane to a containment vessel.
Embodiment 16
[0034] The method in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
passing water is drawing water using a pump configured to pump
water in a direction other than a direction in which the Methane is
passed.
Embodiment 17
[0035] The method in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
passing Methane is passive.
Embodiment 18
[0036] The method in any of the preceding embodiments, wherein the
passing Methane is active.
Embodiment 19
[0037] A production system for producing Methane from a Methane
Hydrate formation, the system configured to dissociate the Methane
Hydrate and maintain separation of Methane gas and nongaseous
material as it enters the system and resides in the system.
[0038] The use of the terms "a" and "an" and "the" and similar
referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in
the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover
both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein
or clearly contradicted by context. Further, it should further be
noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like herein do not
denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to
distinguish one element from another. The modifier "about" used in
connection with a quantity is inclusive of the stated value and has
the meaning dictated by the context (e.g., it includes the degree
of error associated with measurement of the particular
quantity).
[0039] While the invention has been described with reference to an
exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those
skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents
may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the
scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made
to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the
invention without departing from the essential scope thereof.
Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the
particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for
carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include
all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in
the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed
exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms
may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a
generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of
limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so
limited.
* * * * *